Finding a Driver for the “eHome Infrared Transceiver”

Posted: November 20th, 2008 | Author: Jacob Hammond | Filed under: Problems Solved, Technical Stuff | Tags: , , , , | 34 Comments »

I have an older Toshiba laptop that I’ve had set up as an experimental media center box for a while now, running MediaPortal on top of Windows XP Pro. The thing has been working very well so far, except for one major problem — no matter how hard I tried, I could not get Windows XP Pro to recognize the receiver for the generic Media Center remote control I had picked up off of NewEgg.

Initially, I picked up a Logitech Harmony 550 remote, hoping I could make it work with the laptop’s built-in IrDA transceiver, but to no avail — the IrDA unit apparently cannot communicate on the Consumer IR spectrum that a standard remote control uses. Not one to be easily defeated, I picked up a cheap, generic Windows Media Center remote control and receiver. I plugged the receiver in and, to my dismay, Windows was unable to locate a driver for the device.

After months of sporadic attempts and research, I finally found the solution. Under Windows XP, the receiver will show up under “Other devices” in the Device Manager as an “eHome Infrared Transceiver”, sporting an exclamation mark badge over a question mark — missing drivers. Windows Update turns up nothing, and a patch for Windows XP MCE that is suggested by many seems to not help anything either.

Make it work!

To install the drivers for the device, follow these steps:

  • Right-click on the device entry and select Properties.
  • Click on the “Reinstall Driver…” button. Opt to not check Windows Update; you’ve probably already tried with no luck.
  • Get esoteric with the “Install from a list or specific location” option.
  • Get more esoteric with the “I will choose the driver to install” option.
  • Under the “hardware type” box, choose the “Universal Serial Bus controllers” option.
  • On the next page, a correctly-labeled driver should appear as the only option in the box. Continue.
  • Skip affirmatively past any prompts you receive.
  • After the driver is installed, wait a bit while it churns through the resultant child devices that will appear.

You should now be good to go! I just discovered this earlier this evening and was very excited, so I figured I’d make a post about it to save others the pain and heartache that I experienced.

Additional Note: In order for the correct driver to appear, you may need to install this update. It is for XP MCE 2005 but should also install cleanly on XP.

Second additional note (December 2009): It’s worth mentioning that the remote and receiver work perfectly out of the box on Windows 7 (as I assume they would also on Vista, though I never tried).

34 Comments on “Finding a Driver for the “eHome Infrared Transceiver””

  1. 1 Dave said at 9:00 pm on December 9th, 2008:

    TAHNK YOU SOOOOOOOO Much. Ive been getting so frustrated with this damn device. Ive tried roll up updatres and everything. Works awesomely.

  2. 2 Don said at 6:40 pm on December 12th, 2008:

    You Rock this worked flawlessly on XP32 SP3

  3. 3 Devotha said at 2:52 pm on January 6th, 2009:

    Thank you so much. This easy fix was all that was required. There are so many discussions out there on the net on this issue, all leading the wrong way. I now understand why Microsoft is not offering any “fix driver”, and please stay away from all the fake DL sites out there.

  4. 4 Diego said at 5:57 am on January 17th, 2009:

    For me doesn’t work. I have Win XP Home with SP3, but when i choose “Universal Serial Bus controllers” option and click next, it says to me that theren’t software for that device, and the next button is disabled….
    Can you help me?

  5. 5 jkorbes said at 1:33 pm on January 17th, 2009:

    Diego, try installing this update:

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B39D53F1-0AC9-433B-B488-4CAB82F31DC8

    It is for MCE 2005 but should add the driver that appears under the USB controllers section.

  6. 6 Gavin said at 7:04 pm on January 22nd, 2009:

    That worked and the driver successfully installed, but I can’t get the remote to do anything. Any advice once the driver’s been successfully installed?

  7. 7 jkorbes said at 7:11 pm on January 22nd, 2009:

    Gavin, to get it to do anything useful after I got the interface working, I had to use some additional software. For MCE 2005, I used HIP which worked right away with no problems.

    I’ve since switched over to XBMC and ended up using EventGhost to map XBMC’s keyboard mappings to the remote. After you have installed EventGhost, grab this plugin.

  8. 8 Buzz said at 7:37 am on January 23rd, 2009:

    Thanks for posting in the first place.

    However, I think I’m having the same problem with Diego whereby I can’t proceed with the “next” button even after installing the update. Any further advice?

  9. 9 Vijay said at 3:40 am on January 27th, 2009:

    You Beaut!!! Thank you soo much.

  10. 10 JJP1945 said at 10:15 am on January 27th, 2009:

    Thank you so much for such an elegant and logical fix. You have saved the day. How come Microsoft could not have posted the answer?

  11. 11 jkorbes said at 10:29 am on January 27th, 2009:

    Buzz, try installing the update linked in my comment above, which will give you the driver. It should then show up in the list after you follow the steps. Let me know if it still doesn’t work.

  12. 12 Nate said at 11:16 pm on January 27th, 2009:

    You rock, man.

  13. 13 Ian said at 7:33 pm on February 20th, 2009:

    Great, it finally works for my XP Pro. Thanks a lot.

  14. 14 Iain said at 6:14 pm on February 21st, 2009:

    Alas the linked driver doesn’t install on my machine, says it’s not needed… Any ideas?

  15. 15 Derek said at 8:31 am on February 26th, 2009:

    Fantastic, a big thankyou

  16. 16 Thomas said at 12:06 pm on April 15th, 2009:

    Wow! I google for ages, since the effect the driver “got lost with SP3″ – I think.
    MS should add this to there knowlegde base.
    Thank you so much!

  17. 17 Mike V said at 6:50 pm on May 3rd, 2009:

    Thanks – EventGhost is THE solution for running XBMC on Windows using an MCE remote.

  18. 18 Zac said at 3:12 pm on May 31st, 2009:

    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

  19. 19 Harm said at 2:44 am on June 13th, 2009:

    Its so damn simple and works awesome!
    Thanks!!!

  20. 20 aero said at 10:05 pm on June 21st, 2009:

    if it says that you cant install it cause your up to date then download the file and extract it to a folder (filename /extract:c:\temp) then browse to the folder to install, everythings there just browse around till you get it all done

  21. 21 r. said at 5:15 pm on July 2nd, 2009:

    Thanks much, way better than having to download drivers off dodgy sites.

    Forcing new hardware to be “Vista only” like this is annoying when it appears to work just fine in XP with the drivers I already have on my system. I understand marketing, but this is low.

  22. 22 zachf said at 9:38 pm on July 22nd, 2009:

    I Love you. XP SP3 (32bit)

  23. 23 Guillaume said at 4:57 pm on August 11th, 2009:

    Dude, thanks! Why isnt this documented on MS websites.

  24. 24 JK said at 7:48 am on October 21st, 2009:

    u rock, mate :)

  25. 25 Jon said at 6:30 pm on October 27th, 2009:

    Argh, I have the same issue as Iain. Won’t install, says it’s not needed. Not sure what aero means. I’ve downloaded and the file itself is already unzipped. Everytime I double click the .exe file, it says “extracting” and then comes up with the error “not needed”.

    Anyone with any ideas? I’d really like to be able to add this extender to XP.

    Thanks!

  26. 26 Nicholas said at 3:39 pm on November 21st, 2009:

    WOW!!! You are a savior today. I have been goofing off with all kinds of suggestions from Google search results, but this was it! I guess it had the software the whole time, but just didn’t know it….

    Cool fix….

    Thanx

  27. 27 Mikas said at 2:04 am on December 13th, 2009:

    Finally someone who understand this damn thing. Thank you!!!

  28. 28 hugo said at 7:24 am on January 7th, 2010:

    Merci beaucoup ! Vous êtes le seul à avoir trouvé la solution !

    Thank you so much!

  29. 29 mars said at 7:35 am on January 10th, 2010:

    Thanks. This has been the most qualified answer with working solution.

  30. 30 GeneAnthony said at 3:50 pm on January 20th, 2010:

    Thank you so much for this fix, works perfect. Now if only if I can find out why xbmc navigation is so slow with eventghost and not anything else.

  31. 31 Mark said at 8:01 am on March 6th, 2010:

    OMG you are the greatest such a simple fix and I have benn trying teh most insane things to get this to work. Wow!

  32. 32 Ranch said at 8:38 pm on April 6th, 2010:

    Man you have no idea how much you helped me today! I have been spending hours of different solutions! You da best! Thank you sooooooo much!

  33. 33 SAKIS THE GREAT FROM GREECE said at 11:13 am on May 12th, 2010:

    thanks man you are the best i did it

  34. 34 Bambulton said at 3:27 am on June 20th, 2010:

    I am having the same problem as Jon and Iain. I have downloaded the driver from various places and then tried to install but doesnt work. I also tried to install the update but says that my computer is already up to date and doesnt need it. Any ideas? This is killing me.

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